Pages

Saturday, 30 June 2012

Join us on Saturday 7th July for the Fourth Handmade Arcade! A fine selection of Handmade, drawn and printed goods all made by people nearby... all totally rad and unique!

We'll be hanging out outside the No Guts No Glory shop with a lovely bunch of local creatives from 10 am on Saturday morning - with live music from the likes of the gorgeous and musically gifted Emily and Alex from The Big V as well as other fine and talented locals! We're looking forward to seeing what's on offer this month!

Here are some more brilliant makers that will be joining us on the 7th July!

Charlotte Edwards aka Penny Dreadful with once again join us with her range of Steampunk vintage inspired jewellery...

Heartstitch will be joining us from Plymouth with her beautiful handstitched animal creations!

Jess John will be bringing along a range of her awesome illustrated T-Shirts and Prints that she Screen Prints her self in her living room!

The lovely Elena Matos and friends from Unearthed will be bringing jewellery and pots from the studio around the corner.

Madeline, maker of glass beads and charms has been busy making recycled glass jewellery and beads in different shapes! We really can't wait to see these!

Also joining us and adding a bit of a crafty slant to the day is Emily Angus and her crochet jewellery!

Badgers Choice will be back from the hedgerow with some mighty fine badges he's been foraging for.

Gemma Ritchie and her beautiful nature inspired prints and cards will be back with us once again!

Common Goals will also be returning! These guys launched their charity based project at the last Handmade Arcade and it sounds like they've had a very busy first month! They work with bands to design awesome T-Shirts that are then sold to raise money for various Charities!

McCoys cafe will be serving a pretty mean breakfast from 10am so come on down, grab a table and a cuppa, get stuck in with a workshop, browse the tables, or just sit back and soak up the atmosphere in the best part of town on Market day!

Saturday, 23 June 2012

We've been a little quiet over the past few weeks, due in part to an adventurous trip to London to the first ever ELCAF fair held at the Village Underground in Shoreditch, it was an amazing time for us - you can read more about it here!

We're back in Devon now though, busy getting ready for the next Handmade Arcade! this month sees us hosting some really great individually made bits n bobs as well as the launch of a new little nook in the arcade - Good Golly Miss Molly Craft Emporium, more about this exciting little shop to come!

In just two weeks the undercover haven that is McCoys Arcade will be welcoming an inspiring
bunch of resourceful local artists, designers and makers that will soon gather to
sell their unique and original creations at the next Handmade Arcade! – a different kind of Craft Fair
focusing on bold illustration, good design, handmade and bound with an emphasis
on environmentally friendly production techniques!

be inspired and buy local, direct from the hands of
Devonshire makers. Come on down from 10am - 5.30pm to peruse the delights on display at the 4th Handmade Arcade, stop for a bite to eat at independent cafes (McCoy's does a hearty all day breakfast!) whilst
listening to live music, browse the surrounding shops and galleries and get involved in one of the many workshops happening in the area!

Here's a peek at just a few of the creative locals you can expect to meet at Handmade Arcade July 7th!

Jeannette Redhead, is a character who I'm eager to meet - she spends her time making almost every item that you'll find in her wonderful shop, Kitch In Sync, based in Babbacombe! From the shop she sells her lovingly handmade and homestitched retro inspired treasures and also runs retro workshops. Inspired by 1950's fashions and styling, Jeannette puts her skills to good use, creating a beautiful range of handstitched garments and jewellery with an emphasis on the bizarre and quirky influenced by the styles of the 30's through to the 70's - Amazing!

This month we will also be joined by multi-talented beauty that is Emily Johnstone! Emily is the maker of unusual and decadent headbands - the type that make you feel like you've just rolled out of a midsummer nights dream! All totally affordable, unique and really really beautiful! Emily who is also lead singer in locally based band The Big V will also be serenading us with some songs accompanied by her brother Alex!

Benjamin Smith recently paid another visit to the NGNG shop from his home in Axminster - he's coming back to Handmade Arcade for the secong time with a surprising and mischeivious bunch of animals captured in zine form...

The lovely Bee Watson will also be back, brandishing her mighty wardrobe of re-used and upcycled creations - inexpensive (most items under £10!), unique and beautiful garments that are perfect for summer picnics and road-trips!

Becs from ReVintage Jewellery is a locally grown magpie who is the creator of many a fabulous piece of up-cycled and re-used jewellery. Based in Exeter, Becs scours the land for the best of the best broken gems then puts them all together, giving them a new lease of life and a second chance!

There will be more announcements in the coming week, with another amazing selection stalls left to share with you all!

If you know someone crafty or if you yourself are a dab hand at making new from old, a maker of Zines, an illustrator, a crafty maker or musician then please email me at handmadearcade@hotmail.co.uk - all details for stallholders can be found here!

Wednesday, 6 June 2012

Hope you’ve all had a restorative longer than usual long
weekend....We’ve had a wonderful time in the midst of all the jubilee madness, in
the haven that is McCoy’s Arcade, with this month’s selection of wonderful local
creative types! There was such a marvellous mix on offer at Handmade Arcade
from fields nearby as well as a few of our favourite illustrators from Plymouth
whose work will soon be feautured in some great new NOBROW books. Pop into the
No Guts No Glory shop to see our own selection as well as a few Handmade

Exeter this weekend was jam-packed with so many different
flavours of entertainment – with the Exeter Respect Festival, Crikey Queenie it’s Vintage fair and countless other Jubilee inspired celebrations going on –
expectedly the arcade was quieter than usual! That being said, there were
definitely a few success stories from our day at Handmade Arcade!

Common Goals – No Guts No Glorys sister project set up by
Jack Hyde and Nathan Blaker launched at Handmade Arcade and had a great
response! Sorcha had an ingenious idea to turn their stall into a subbeteo
pitch! Sorcha and Jack managed to sell an astounding thirteen tees - with proceeds going to
the bands selected charitable projects! If you missed the tees today check out their website and keep an eye out for appearances at the cavern as well as other shows around the UK. All the tees are screen-printed
on Organic cotton and are designed exclusively for Common Goals by the band
members!

Another first appearance was seen by The Quixotic press – a
brilliant new zine working with up and coming illustrators from the area! Pop
into the shop to have a browse through this full colour zine and pick up your
own copy for just £3.50!

Autumn Jitters aka the lovely Gemma, had a fantastic day
with her ever so popular cards, illustrations, mirrors and badges! We loved
them so much we decided to get some for ourselves! Look out for her brilliant
super-bird cards in the NGNG shop soon!

Our knitting inspired corner was warmly welcomed as the day
got a little cooler and Ollies mum is now a commissioned jumper designer!
Picking up a mighty 8 jumpers to knit in time for chillier climes! If you have an
idea of something you’d like to see on a jumper email us and we’ll put you in
touch with the lady who can J

Heather from Little Owl Crafts had some very unusual and wonderful
creations available – and even did some spinning on site! You’ll be able to
pick up her hand dyed and spun wool created in Crediton from Heavenly Yarns on
Fore Street in the very near future!

We took some snaps of the wonderful selection of things to be found at the warm, friendly Handmade Arcade – if you missed this one be sure to pop down to the
next one on the 7th July! (which is already being honed into
possibly the best selection yet!)

We managed to get some making of our own done with the skilled help of Bunyip Beads and Buttons and some fabric donations from The Real McCoy, we made heaps of colourful bunting and flags! Not wanting to waste any, we covered Nathan's bike with the scraps and most of the lamposts on Fore Street :)

Badgers Choice had an amazing array of badges!

Nina Kleinzeller had a wonderful selection of wooden handpainted badges as well as some beautiful handpainted and created wooden collages - look out for her new range of cards and prints soon.

Music from the Exeter Ukelele group were there to shake a leg or two, with some jolly tunes!

Heidi from Feltfaces had such a truly impressive selection of felted bits n bobs, I was especially fond of a little felted Bee badge, Heidi is a truly skilled lady and full of great information on living more sustainably

Ben Wrights Pokemon badges were pretty rad, all handpainted and cut by lazor!

It was a marvelous day and it was great to meet such a fantastic bunch! We were happy to see Elena and a wonderful selection of pottery and jewellery from Unearthed as well as some fantastic headwear with ears from the lovely Amy from Meers Ears!

There is talk of many new exciting projects in the hood that
is the West Quarter, it really feels like a great time to be in Exeter. The
summer holds many promises and lends its hand to blossoming ideas eager to bear
fruit! Independent projects cropping up here and there representing the
power of people coming together for the right reasons! Not for commerce or
promotion or even ego – but just to have a jolly doing the things they love
surrounded by the support of creative minds and hearts!

Many thanks to everyone who has supported the Handmade
Arcade project and took the time to come and see us in the Arcade, like
the rain today it’s so refreshing that the project is different each time and
constantly growing in surprising directions! If you get the time please share
this blog and help us to grow.

More to come soon on skill-sharing in the arcade
and other exciting projects in the very near future…

If you have any ideas or want to volunteer at the next
Handmade Arcade please contact us! We’re always happy for a few helping hands!

Friday, 1 June 2012

Wow, this really is the month for new beginnings! As well as Handmade Arcade providing the launching pad for eagerly anticipated Common Goals project this weekend, we're also delighted to say that Exeter's newest Zine will be having a stall for the day, too!

Chloe Uden, curator of The Quixotic Press says, "The zine is a platform for artists to club together and introduce people to their work. It is an optimistic and playful place for people to show what they're thinking about and working on and you never know, some of the artists involved might even get some paid work out of it eventually!"

It's so amazing to see people getting together to work on mutual ideas and projects, and it really feels like the artistic and creative community in Exeter is growing so quickly these days!

Come and celebrate this very fact with us tomorrow in McCoys Arcade!

Hayley is currently at home making her delicious Vegan Cupcakes, so this post was left for me to write!

Ok, back to the fun of folding 100 Common Goals zines for tomorrows launch and letting my excitement brew while Bruce Springsteen sings me some tunes!